Saturday, November 28, 2009

YAY!!! i received my buttons yesterday morning just in time for my birthday! I was having a slightly unpleasant beginning to my day, (see my blog...) But what a treat! i got some colourful house shaped ones and heart shaped ones and lovely wooden ones (wood buttons are my favorite!!! ) All wrapped in a lovely see through pouch! Thank you so much to my partner Kiran!!! Have a lovely weekend everyone!!

Friday, November 20, 2009

Oh my, oh my! So very lucky to have been paired with the wonderful Laura! This really was a special swap and I'm so glad I got to be included. Read more about it at the mystical forest ....
xoxo Mindy Bell

I must confess when I first discovered Hannah's button swap I was really excited to be able to get some "new/old" buttons in exchange for some I had but then I started to sort and pick through my stash and guess what? I discovered I was much happier and inspired in the process of giving rather than in the idea of getting!

My discovery came in the choosing of each button, thinking about how my swap partner "K" might be able to use them. She had expressed the idea of being able to knit more, so I chose some light buttons that might be able to highlight her work. She has many sweet children, so I wanted to add some buttons that would be cute on baby clothes (she sews, also). She lives in Colorado so I added an antler button (those are so cool) and I live on the coast, so I added mother of pearl. Other than the antler they are mostly vintage.

"K" seemed like the kind of person who would appreciate anything and yet with 8 (YES! 8) children I thought she could use a little pampering so I started to REALLY have fun in the presentation of the buttons.

I decided to wrap them in a vintage hankie (linen) with a picot edge.

I tied it off with a small strip of batik...I love batiks and have them all over my studio!

Then I wanted to include a little card so I made a tiny little greeting card with some of my scrapping stash and a button (of course)!

The last thing I did was add a small goodie bag for her 2 daughters...YES, the other 6 are boys! Bet they have a lot of fun at their house. Sounds like it is full of love and sports equipment, trucks and trains!
I included some more batik strips for dress up, some "not vintage, but colorful" buttons, a little crystal I discovered in my button stash (very shiny and magical) and a bright charm I had made of felt and embriodery floss. I hope they all have so much fun opening them. The blessing of this gift is how much fun and creativity it fostered in my process! It has re-energized my already VERY active creative mind!
Many thanks to Hannah, for the inspiration!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Yay!!! A button swap!! I keep all my buttons in this lovely vintage tin that my man decided to put in the dishwasher one day, the print washed off so i got him to cut me a giant button to put on top of the lid and it became my button tin!

I had so much fun going through all these for this swap, and my mother even joined in the fun; after asking her if she had any old interesting buttons i could have for the swap, she dropped of a huge bag at my house!!! I've prepared a lovely little parcel for my swap partner Kiran and i just can't wait to see the results of all these little buttons being shipped everywhere!!! Have a great swap!!! Annie